My Insanity
by Deaths-Radiant-Flower
Summary: Eren Yeager is a prime detective at Tsubasa Agencies. He has always loved his job but when his boss gives him a case unsolved for fifteen years that whole perspective of his changes, along with his life which was now in danger. Yaoi. Eren X Levi plus others.
1. Prologue

**Warnings: There will be graphic scenes. Not really in this chapter but for chapters to come. I'll give warnings then but know that this probably won't be for sensitive readers as there might-MIGHT- be character deaths in this story. Also there will definitely be Yaoi in here. If ya don't like then don't read. Thank you. Those who do like that smexy yaoi, please read on!**

 **Summary: Eren Yeager is a prime detective at Tsubasa Agencies. He has always loved his job but when his boss gives him a case unsolved for fifteen years that whole perspective of his changes, along with his life which was now in danger. Yaoi. Eren X Levi plus others.**

 **My Insanity**

 **Prologue: Ordentlich Mörder**

* * *

Eren Yeager was a prime detective at Tsubasa Agency, a used to be run-down firm but now a state of the art organization focused on crime and keeping the city at peace. At his young age- only being 23- he was already a big topic in both the civil world and criminal world.

He loved his job. Being a detective was always something he dreamed about ever since he was a little lad that watched the series "Dekret" on the telly. Of course it wasn't just because of that. justice was always something he strongly voiced out and encouraged. Many times in school he was always getting beat up by bullies at school for voicing his strong opinions towards them and what they were doing.

Of course he eventually grew out of that phase. The deep sense for justice was still there, yet hidden. It only came out again when he reached his finally year in high school-the year where any normal teenager starts really thinking about their future and what they should do with it. Eren's choices had been made simple for him, of course.

He could have either become a doctor, like his dad, a teacher, like his mom and any other female in his family, or be what he's always wanted to be. A detective. So that's what he became.

He went to a middle-class school that focused solely on Law and Medicine. He aced all his classes- though he only managed with pure perseverance and a lot of tutoring. He even took a class in physical training and combat.

When he got his degree he applied to many agencies for work. With his marks and physical fitness finding a job was easy, maybe a little too easy. A lot of places he applied to wanted him and he had a feeling it was because he was the son of non-other than Grisha Ackerman- a used to be famous detective that later studied medicine and saved the whole town from an unnamed disease. He didn't look too much into that feeling though. If having a good name meant getting a good job then he didn't care.

In the end he had gone with a low-rise company. They had said they needed his help and who was he to say no? So that's where he has been for the past two years, along with his best friend Armin who was also pretty well known in both worlds.

Both him and Armin had done the impossible in just under two years. they'd solved over fifty cases together and over twenty alone. They brought attention towards their low standard company- mainly by solving cold-cases the German Bureau of Law had laid out for all companies-and helped turned it into what it is today-which is one of the top five criminal law firms in Germany.

As it was said before, he pretty much loved his job up until recently when he got a lone case that had barely any information in it. So far, thanks to this case, he wasn't where he wanted to be in life or with the case- which he'd been working on for a whole of four months already.

"This was supposed to be an easy case," he says, clutching onto his messy brown strands roughly, almost pulling them out by their roots, "not a cat and dog chase" he growls out. "Cheer up, Eren." his blonde colleague and childhood friend, Armin Arlert, says, "It could have been worse"

"Armin, this guy basically doesn't exist. The only information I have on him is that he's a male, he comes from Japan supposedly and that's he's a silent killer. For heavens sake nobody even kows what he looks like!" the brunette exclaims, his head falling down on his desk in exasperation.

"It can't be that bad… I'm sure that some of his victims have been able to catch a glimpse or two of him" Armin suggests. Eren groans out. "That's the thing though. All his victims are dead. Not one of them has survived… they say that this man has been killing for the past 15 years and not one clue has been left" the brunette says and Armin let's out a whitsle.

"15 years? That's pretty long. How old is this guys? 50?" He asks almost jokingly. "Well, it wouldn't surprise me" Eren says, "if he is I'm surprised someone at that age can manage to pull off the things he does..." Eren says more to himself than to Armin. "What has he done?" The blonde asks. Eren let's out a sigh. "You know I can't tell you that. I've already given you too much information. You should know by now that lone cases can't be diclosed to anyone other than the investigator. All I can really tell you is that he's killed a lot of people"

"I know. I was hoping you'd give me just a little bit of insight to his manner of killing. Who knows, maybe I can help?" The blonde suggest and Eren shakes his head, smiling at his friend. "No can do, Armout. Maybe when I solve this case I'll tell you all about it. Deal?" He says, wiggling his brows at the blonde. "Deal"

* * *

Later that day Eren arrived at his small condo. He had a whole lot of paper work with him that he neatly stacked on his office desk. He figured that since he seemed to be getting absolutely no where with his work it would be best if he just went over the case. He was told that if he felt he couldn't solve it then he should just hand it over to the next best.

But this was Eren Yeager. He wouldn't give up so easily. He would solve this case or die trying. He didn't care how long it took him. Even if it took him a year or two he was willing to wait it out. It was far better than admitting defeat and having regret the it for the rest of his life. Solving this case meant a lot to him now. He'd worked so hard on this and to no avail. And that's why he didn't want to give up. The tougher something is the more you want to take it on.

He knew that if he solved this case he would be stopping a very dangerous man. The reward was great, no doubt about that, but getting to that reward was like crossing an ocean. You'll get to the other side but whether or not you get there in one piece depends on the ship you sail and the tides you face.

He guessed that the only way to really get anywhere- in life and with this case- is to just let the water flow and go along with it until he reached the end of the stream.

Sighing out, the brunette rested his head down on his desk-which he had been sitting at every since he got home. "If only it was that easy" he mutters out, "Well, no use thinking about this now." He adds in as he lifts his head up and looks down at a sheet of paper in front of him. "Ordentlich Mörder (Silent Killers)" was written in big red letters in the middle of the page. _Maybe I should look over everything that I have. I- and previous detectives- might have missed something._

Nodding his head, he gets up from his seat and walks out of his room. He first wanted to get him something to eat and drink before spending the rest of his evening reading over case files. "Tonight's going to be busy" he says to himself as he walks into his kitchen to prepare him some food.

* * *

Once he was done eating a quick snack-having not been that hungry for some reason- he went back to his room, a cup of piping hot tea in hand. He walked over to his desk and placed the steaming cup down in its wooden surface before he took a seat himself. He sighed out. "Well, let's get this started" he says to himself as he pulls a stack of files towards him. _Why do these look so much bigger?_ He mentally questions himself. "Probably because a few more victims have been found… damnit"

Groaning out, he took the first file at the top of the pile. He opened it and read through its contents.

 _Date: 17_ _th_ _October 2001_

 _Title: Ordentlich Mörder, 001._

 _E.C(Emergency Call): 911 called at 01:23 AM to be dispatched at 23 Schwarz Avenue from an anonymous caller about two bodies that were spotted in an abandoned factory._

 _Description: an ambulance arrived on the scene at exactly 01:35 AM along with two FBI teams. Two corpse were found at the scene, DOA(dead on arrival)._

 _Body 1: A young Caucasian Male, about 15-17, with Blonde hair was found on the first floor of the abandoned building._

 _Manner of death: Victim was stabbed and bled to death before being split in half._

 _Weapon: Unclear_

 _Body2: A young Caucasian Female with dark Red hair was found on the second floor._

 _Manner of death: Decapitation._

 _Weapon: Unclear._

 _Speculations: On arrival both FBI teams and police teams found that the scene was completely sterile. There were no finger prints, weapons left or even traces of fibres or hairs from the culprit. The only thing that was unclean was the corpses._

 _Both corpses had a white rose on them-placed on their right eyes-which had been gauged out- and a note had been left on the third floor, reading:_

" _Betrayal did them in"_

 _-Case ongoing._

"So this was the first killing he did…" Eren says to himself. He reads over the contents again, taking note of a few things. _Well there's no weapon specified but it was probably an axe or a butchers knife- which is possible considering there has been a butchery down the street from this place for the last twenty five years._

 _It was clearly a hate crime._ He thinks to himself as he looks at a picture of the note left at the crime scene. "Betrayal did them in?" he says, "Well it's obvious that these two must've upset him in some way but I feel like there's a deeper meaning to this…" he trails off as he places everything back into the file and put's it aside.

He picked up his tea and took a sip from it before pulling another file down from the pile in front of him.

 _Date: 17_ _th_ _November 2001_

 _Title: Ordentlich Mörder, 002-003_

 _E.C: 911 called at 10:17 AM about a disturbing scene behind a shopping centre. Another ohone call was made at 17:47 PM about a body in an office building on Blutcher Str._

 _Description:_

 _Scene 1: Police were dispatched tight after call was made and arrived on scene at 10:39 AM. There was more than one body-three- and each one of them were DOA._

 _Body 1: An African/German Male (Blackie Abraham) found dead five feet from body 2._

 _Manner of death: Burnt to death_

 _Weapon: Fire. Signs of being stabbed-knife not found or specified._

 _Body 2: 25 year old Anchen Dupree found five feet from Blackie and 10 feet from Alice Walber (body 3)._

 _Manner of death: strangulation. Signs of knife injury._

 _Weapon: uncertified_

 _Body 3: A Caucasian Female , Alice Walber (39), found dead 15 feet from Blackie and five feet from Anchen._

 _Manner of death: Throat and wrists were slit-victim bled to death before all her organs were taken out and she was stuffed with white roses._

 _Weapons: Unspecified._

 _Speculations: Scene was clear. There were no finger prints, weapons left or even traces of fibres or hairs from the culprit. The bodies were cleaned off as well._

 _Each victim had their right eyes gauged out and a rose in its place. A note was left at the scene, reading:_

" _Dirty Money Will Always Be Dirty"_

 _-ongoing._

Eren read over the rest of the file. He'd gone over this before so there was nothing new. He had never really noticed before but the date of the first kill was exactly a month before the second and third. "Could he have been keeping a low profile?" Eren questions but shakes his head. "There's no way he would have been found anyway. They couldn't link any one to the time and place of the crime scene and since there was no form of solid evidence to point them in the direction of just who this man is then obviously he wouldn't be found"

"Maybe he was planning out his next kill…" he trails off. "It's weird though because that one was a month apart and then from November 17 onwards the killings were made once a week…" he says to himself as he looks at the pictures on the crime scene. "The scenes are completely different though…they're… cleaner… and the only real significant thing to keep in mind is that it's a month after the first kill. Also the eyes being replaced with a rose thing and the fact that notes were left in both cases…"

Sighing out, the brunette put the content back into its place and pulled down a different file- one he'd had to compile himself.

 _Date: 20_ _th_ _January 2016_

 _Title: Ordentlich Mörder, 780_

 _E.C: 911 called at 07:10 AM about a body found in Pretel Corp._

 _Description: ambulance arrived on scene at 07:21 AM. Building had already been evacuated. A body was found on the first floor woman's bathroom._

 _Body: A Caucasian male, Derek Aster(36) was found in the bathroom on the first floor._

 _Manner of death: Stabbed, bled dry and stuffed with white roses._

 _Weapons: knife left at scene but wasn't the actual weapon. Real weapon unspecified._

 _Speculations: No sign of a struggle. Crime scene was cleaned up along with the body. Person was holding onto a small little box that had an finger in it- which wasn't his own. His right eye had been gauged out and replaced with a rose. And a note was left next to him as well as on one of the basins. The first one read as follows:_

" _Sombre Hearts are never Sombre" and the second was a list that had a . "Elderberries, Grapes, Raspberries, Gooseberries, Apples, Guava, Nectarines, Grapefruit…"._

 _-on-going_

Eren felt a headache forming. He couldn't understand the meaning of the last letter. "Is he trying to make a fruit salad?" Eren questions, "Or is he just playing games? Either way this doesn't make sense… all other killings before this one have only ever had one letter left behind. Plus there was a weapon left behind as well. Never has that happened…" he trails off as he looks at the picture taken of the second note.

"Elderberries, Grapes, Raspberries, Gooseberries, Apples, Guava, Nectarines, Grapefruit … is this the type of fruit you like or something?" he questions no one in particular. Eren was about to put the contents of the case back in its file but was interrupted by his phone suddenly going off, the object vibrating on the table.

"Hello?" Eren mutters into the speaker. There was a little bit of static before someone replied. "Eren? It's me, your father"

"Oh. Hi, dad. Why are you calling me so late at night? Shouldn't you be sleeping?" The brunette asks and the man chuckles. "I'm old, Eren, but I'm not that old. I just called because I've heard some disturbing news." He says. Eren's attention quickly directs to his father.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" He asks worriedly. "Not at all... I heard you've taken on the Ordentlich Mörder case" his father says, "I want you to give it back to whoever gave it to you" he says bluntly. Eren frowns. "What? Why? How did you know? The only person who knows I've taken on the case is Chief Smith and I've barely told Armin any denting information..."

"Well Armin called me and asked if I knew about a case where a Japanese male was exterminating hundreds of people for the last 15 years. Of course I knew which case he was talking about. Don't forget I used to be in the law industry as well. Anyone from back then would have known what you were talking about though" the man says. "Well, if you know then how about disclosing some information about the case to me." Eren demands. "Look. I know just as much as the next random stranger. I want you to pull out from that case, Eren" his dad replies.

"Why?" The brunette asks, slowly becoming irritated by his old man. "Well. Have they ever _disclosed_ to you about _why_ this case isn't yet solved and why it's so "top secret"?" Grisha asks. "I don't know why it's kept under low profile... And they say it's not closed yet because of too little information."

"Well there is that..." The man pauses, "but there's also another reason"

"And what is that reason, father?" Eren questions.

"All the detectives that have taken on this case are all dead... He kills them"

* * *

 _ **Well… I felt really bad for not posting anything up yet so I decided I'll put this up. The chapter I'm currently writing for Strengthen Me is taking longer than I expected and probably won't be up until the weekend. But since this has been done for quite a while now I decided to post it for you guys to read.**_

 _ **I hope it was enjoyable. Reviews are welcomed!**_

 _ **Till next time.**_

 _ **Ciao~**_


	2. Chapter 1

**My Insanity**

 **Chapter 1**

* * *

Eren sighed out as he looked in front of him. "So he strikes again" he silently says to himself. He looks at the two bodies in front of him, the scene disturbing but something he'd grown quite used to. "It's been completely cleaned out... How am I supposed to do my job... If things carry on like this I might have to give the case over to someone else..."

"Eren, I know it's a bit of a hassle considering there are no obvious clues, but I want you to stay on this case. I think you'll be able to figure out just who the killer is better than any previous detectives." Came a low, yet warm and soft, voice next to the brunette. Eren looked over at the male next to him.

"Commander Erwin..."

"I know that it's difficult keeping this case a secret but it needs to be done. For the safety of others this needs to stay between me and you" the male says, patting the brunettes back. Eren sighs out. "I honestly don't think I can do this… you're overestimating my skills, Erwin" he says, giving the man an earnest look.

"You've made more progress than anyone else, so I don't think I'm overestimating you at all" Erwin says, shaking his head. Eren stared at him. "Can I ask you a question?" he says, giving the male a stern look. The elder male nods his head. "Anything… ask anything you want to"

"Why didn't you tell me that the previous investigators that took this case on were all killed. That could have been some seriously useful information, you know…" the brunette says bluntly. A sort moment of silence passed between the two of them before Erwin sighed out. "I didn't feel there was any need to. I know that you would have taken this on regardless of knowing that or not. But… you can be unpredictable at times. Even though I knew that you wouldn't turn the case down, I also knew that the possibility of you not taking it. But it didn't matter if I didn't tell you or not. You would have found out by reading all the files"

"What are you talking about? I've been through those files a couple of times and not once have I seen one about detectives or police officers being killed." Eren says, giving the male a confused look. Erwin seemed just as confused as he did, if not maybe more. "That's impossible… those files should be there… I made sure to check that everything was there before I handed it over to you…"

An extremely tense silence ensued.

"Our information… has been tampered with" Erwin says, stating the complete obvious. Eren felt an immense irritation build up in him. "Oh my god… if they can do this then they must have tampered with a lot of other information as well… I remember feeling like some things were missing from the case files… that must mean he or she is doing this to mess with me…" Eren says, growling out.

He cursed his fate. He hadn't once thought that case files were missing, but now that he thought about it there were a couple of times when he felt the numbering of the files had been completely off. He hadn't thought much about it. It was possible that cases could have been solved and put away, but that was obviously not the case.

"This could become a serious issue… but I suppose there's nothing we can do about it. I'll just have to try and continue my investigation without those case files… actually, Erwin, have you noticed something about the recent killings?" Eren questions, looking over at the two bodies in front of him that were currently being assessed by a couple of forensic scientists.

"I haven't noticed anything…" the man replies, "what are your findings?" he questions and Eren shrugs. "I don't really know if it's my imagination or anything but… the past few victims have seemed a little… off. I mean it's not like any of these cases make much sense. These victims aren't related to each other in any way but the crime is still pretty personal… but I've noticed that whoever's doing this isn't killing for revenge or anything anymore. It seems to me like they're killing for sport"

"Why would you think that?" Erwin questions. "They just seem that way to me. I noticed it with the previous killing. "Sombre hearts are never sombre" was a note left at the crime scene, along with a list of fruits… This one is similar, don't you think?" Eren questions, picking up the plastic carrier that held a note in it.

"See, this one says: "Jade, Black, Amethyst, Brown, Emerald, Blue, Grey, Beige, Ebony, Bronze, Red." It's just a bunch of colours. I don't understand it at all… and then one of the bodies have a question mark carved into their back with the words "I know you but who am I?" written underneath… one part of it seems like something the killer would do, but the other seems like a trick to steer us into the wrong direction"

Erwin gives the brunette a contemplative look. "I agree that it's a bit ridiculous based on how all the previous cases were conceived, but I don't think they're necessarily messing with you. These messages must have some meaning to them. You just need to figure them out. And once you do you'll be able to make some progress in your case" he says, sighing out.

"I find it hard to decipher the meaning of fruits and colours…" Eren says, "You make it sound so simple." He adds in, placing the small plastic bag into large orangey-yellow type of file. "I know it's frustrating but you should at least try. You're the only one who can do this" Erwin says and Eren shrugs his shoulders.

"I'm probably going to die before this case gets solved. Maybe you should have picked Armin to do this. He's a much better investigator than me. He's more solid with his work." Eren comments as he rakes a hand through his messy brown hair. "Armin is a good investigator but he's far too cautious" Erwin says, "For an investigation like this we need someone as reckless as you"

Eren scoffed. "I'm not reckless." He says, sighing out. "Besides, being reckless can only help in getting me killed. I think Armin's caution is something needed for this case," Eren says, shaking his head at the elder male. "If I can't do this I want this given to him" he mumbles out. Erwin stares at him, his face stoic.

"You want to give him this case even though you know there's a possibility that he could die from it? I thought you cared about his safety?" Erwin says, deadpanning. "Well, I believe in his skills… besides, that's only _if_ I die or am unable to continue. I haven't given up yet. I'm going to figure out who this maniac is and I'm going to find him and lock him up. I don't care how long it takes"

Erwin smiled at him. "I don't doubt that you will. That's why I picked you for this" he says, crossing his arms. Eren didn't reply. He knew that the man thought he was going to solve this, and heck, maybe even Eren thought so himself. But he wasn't sure. Nothing was certain. He might end up dying before he solved this, but until then he was going to do what he could. There was always an answer to everything and he was going to find every single one of them.

* * *

After collecting every single piece of evidence from the investigation Eren had headed over to one of his favourite coffee shops to meet up with Armin. He was extremely exhausted. He hadn't gotten much sleep the previous night thanks to the phone call he had gotten from his father. Not only that but the simple fact that he could die left him both on edge and more determined to solve this case.

He wasn't afraid of dying but he didn't want to die. There were still a lot of things he wanted to do in this world. He wanted to find a good girl, marry her and start a family. But he wouldn't be able to do that if he died. That's why he needed to solve this case. He would never just give up and hand it over to anyone else because he knows the burden that comes with it and he didn't want anyone else but him carrying it.

"Eren, Jean asked me something last night…" Eren heard Armin say, his attention being drawn over to the blonde once again. "What did that horse face say?" he questions, sighing out. Jean Kirstein was one of Eren and Armin's childhood friends, and Armins boyfriend. They'd been together for a few years now. Armin had been complaining for a month now that Jean was starting to become distant and secretive.

"Well, he didn't actually _tell_ me but he had left me a note…" the blonde says, looking down at the table. "Did he leave a "Dear John" letter?" Eren asked. Armin shook his head, looking up at him with a smile. "That's not it at all. When I got home there were candles lighting up the whole house, well, not the whole house, but they did light a path to our bedroom… and when I got there, there were rose petals covering the bed…"

"That's disgustingly cliché, but expected from that no brain, horse face" Eren says, having already figured out where this conversation was headed. "I know, but it was still romantic." Armin says, chuckling. "Anyway, the rose petals were all centred around a small page and a little black box" the blonde continues, "The page read "Marry Me?" and inside the box was a silver ring…"

"You know, you don't seem very happy by that" Eren pointed out. Armin shook his head. "I am happy… I just didn't think that he'd actually ask me… especially not that way… Call me old school, but I always thought of someone going down on one knee and asking for my hand in marriage… not that I don't appreciate what he did. I can tell that he put a lot of thought into it, but I just… I didn't expect it at all"

"Well, it doesn't matter how he asked you, right? What really matters is the fact that he's basically telling you that he wants to spend the rest of his life with you. That definitely means something. You shouldn't think too much about it. When he sees you again he'll probably do it the proper way" Eren says, reassuring the blonde.

Armin nodded his head. "I suppose you're right… but he's only coming back in two weeks…" he says, sighing out. "I suppose I can wait until then" he adds in. Eren was about to reply but kept quiet when his and Armin's orders were put down on the table. From him it was a cup of much needed coffee and a slice of cheesecake while Armin had a cup of tea and a veggie sandwich.

"By the way, Armin, I wanted to show you something. I had a few photo's developed yesterday that I want you to see. You've always said that you like the pictures I take, so I even made extras for you" Eren says as he pulls out an envelope for his briefcase. He handed the envelope over to Armin who smiled at him.

"I bet you just took pictures of Kohl this time" the blonde comments, referring to the puppy Eren had found a few months back. Eren shakes his head. "There are some pictures of him in there, but majority of those are pictures I've taken of scenery I've found during the investigation. I suppose the only good thing about this case is that I've been able to see a lot of great places… although most of them had dead bodies…"

Armin chuckled out, opening up the envelope and taking out the set of pictures inside it. "By the way, it still amazes me that you named your dog after cabbage…" Armin comments as he starts looking through the images. Eren shrugged. "When I found him he was cowering in a bunch of rotten cabbage. His name has some meaning. Besides, "Kohl" sounds cool for a dog… though he's still a puppy"

"Ah, found one of him. He really is adorable… I wonder why his owner would just abandon him like that" Armin says, showing Eren the picture. It was of a largish husky lying down next to the ocean, his light blue eyes staring right at the camera. "I know. He's just gorgeous. Not to mention he's helped in bringing some of the ladies attention over to me" Eren says, smirking, "He's like my wing man"

"Hmm, you've taken some real good photo's here… but I don't really understand this one" he says, handing a photo over to Eren. The brunette looked over it and found that it was a picture he'd taken of the list of fruits from the previous case. Eren hadn't even known that he'd had the photo developed. "It's not that important…" he says, handing the photo back over.

Armin hums out. "There's just something odd about this picture…" he says, "There's a lot of fruits that start with "G" in here, don't you think?" he questions. Eren blinks. "There is?" he asks and Armin nods his head. "Yeah, it's like they don't actually belong there. If you take the first work away from them you'd have "EGRGAGNG", and if you take away the "G's" You'd have "ERAN""

"I get it now! This isn't a list of fruit. It's actually your name. The "G's" are there to stop you from seeing the words "ERAN"" Armin says and Eren gives him a confused look. "But you don't spell my name with an A" he points out. "I know. The A is probably there to throw you off. Whoever wrote this wasn't trying to write a list of fruits, they were trying to call you out."

"Haha, that's funny" Eren says, "Luckily that was just a random list of fruits" he says jokingly. Armin gave him a worried look. "Are you sure? This doesn't seem like a list…" Armin says. Eren shakes his head. "No, seriously. That's absolutely nothing. But you're really smart though. I wouldn't have ever thought of it having a meaning" Eren says, picking his cup of coffee out and drinking all of its contents.

"Sorry Armin, but I need to go somewhere. We'll have to continue this some other time. I'll be sure to a set of new photos as well" Eren says. "What about your cake?" Armin questions. "I'll take it to go. I really need to go" Eren replies. Armin sighs out. "That's fine. Don't get into too much trouble" Armin says.

"I'll try not to. Though I can't really guarantee anything" Eren says, getting up from the table. He got his slice of cake put in a box to-go and left the restaurant, saying his last goodbye to Armin before he did so. Once he was out he walked straight to his car and climbed into it. He sat there in silence for a while, his mind completely blank.

After a while he just hit his head against his steering wheel and let out a low growl. _How could I have been so stupid!? I should have realized that he was trying to spell something out for me but I didn't think it would be my own name…_ Eren thought to himself, sighing out. "I better get home. Now that Armins helped me I think I'll be able to decipher the others with more ease now…"

Eren cursed his fate. He was seriously doomed. The fact that the killer was calling him out obviously meant something, and he doubted it was anything good. He didn't even know how the man had found out who Eren was, but then again, if he could steal information from them, he could have probably found out about the investigator on the case.

Eren groaned. His work had just gotten both easier and more difficult.

* * *

When Eren got home he had gone straight to his room where he found Kohl sleeping on his bed. Eren had wanted to join the dog but he knew he couldn't. Instead he went to his desk and pulled out his camera and a notebook. He plugged the camera into his laptop and opened the notebook onto a new, clean page.

While he waited for his computer to boot up, he jotted down a bunch of words onto the page. Once his computer was on he went into his user and opened up the files on his camera. He opened up the photos he had taken of the crime scene today and scrolled down until he found the picture with the list of colours.

Eren stared at the photo, thinking back to what Armin had said earlier. _There's a lot of fruits that start with "G" in here, don't you think? it's like they don't actually belong there._

Now that Eren thought about it, the list of colours was pretty much the same, except this time there was a lot of "B's". Eren took all of those away just like Armin had with the G's. "JAEGER", he says, "That's… this is my surname…" he trails off, scribbling on the page in front of him. he looked up at his computer yet again and went to the next picture which was of the person back.

His eyes widened when he realized the meaning of the lists and the carving on the man's back. "Eren Jaeger, I know you but who am I?"

Eren felt his blood run cold in his veins. He knew that he didn't know this man, but he obviously knew Eren. Eren didn't know if this was just a joke to make him scared or not, but if it was, it was working. He was petrified. This man knew him. For all he knew he could have been watching him right at this moment, waiting for the right moment to kill him.

Eren suddenly felt extremely unsafe.

*Riiinggg~*

Eren almost had had a heart attack when his phone suddenly went off, disrupting the silence. He sighed out and fished his phone out of his pocket. Without looking at the caller ID, he answered the phone. "Hello?" he says into the speaker. He waited for someone to reply but all he got was static. "Heelloo~?" he called out again.

" _Eren Jaeger"_ the brunette heard someone say. The voice sounded mechanical, like something a prankster would use to throw off their victims. "Yes?" he answers, not really caring much about the persons voice.

" _Eren Jaeger"_ the person said again and Eren felt his eyebrow twitch. "Yes, that's me. Who is this?" the brunette questions through gritted teeth.

" _Eren Jaeger"_ the person says yet again. Eren frowned. "Listen, if you don't stop it I'm going to hang up" he says. The line suddenly went deathly silent. He couldn't even hear the sound of breathing. "Hel-"

" _I can see you"_ the person says. Eren's face pales. "Who is this?" he questions once more.

The person had said something before the line went dead. Eren's phone dropped out of his hand. He felt his heart stop beating for a split second as the persons words sunk in.

" _I'm the one you've been looking for"_

* * *

 _ **And there you have it. Because I was getting a lot of reviews from people asking me to update this I decided: "Why not?" and wrote a new chapter for you guys. I hope you enjoyed. Hopefully I get reviews from you guys. Reviews=Inspiration, so please inspire me.**_

 _ **By the way, I'm not much an expert on other countries other than my own, so forgive me if some things are wrong. I am trying. Also, I don't have much faith in this story. When I had first written this I had thought it was a good idea, but I realize that I'm not all that smart. I mean, I'm not stupid either. I've watched a lot of crime shows and I won't lie and say I haven't ever planned ways to kill someone (I promise I haven't though, I'm a lover, not a fighter… at times). Still, all of that means nothing. I'm trying to be as logical as I can and make sense out of this but I feel like I'm failing. Oh well, sorry guys, I tried.**_

 _ **Soo, if you guys actually liked this leave a review if you want me to write further. If not, well, I just might not update. Soo, until next time.**_

 _ **Ciao~**_


	3. Chapter 2

**My Insanity**

 **Chapter 2**

* * *

A week passed since Eren received that mysterious phone call. He hadn't told anybody about the call yet. Mainly because he didn't know if it was some kid trying to prank him or the actual killer contacting him. He had tried to find the location of the caller but he'd ended up with something in the middle of the ocean. So that was pretty much a dead end.

The brunette let out a sigh. "It probably wasn't a prank" he mutters under his breath. He looked up from his computer screen and over at the desk next to his. His friend, Connie Springer, was sitting there with his phone pressed against his ear and a confused look on his face.

Eren supressed the need to laugh at the others face. Connie undoubtedly wasn't the brightest person. That's probably why he was a cop and not a detective like Eren and Armin. Regardless, he was still a good man. Although he was a bit of a trouble maker.

Eren looked away from his confused friend and over to the table across from his where another friend of his sat, chewing on a potato. He scrunched his face up. "Sasha, is it really necessary to eat that here? Weren't you just on break?" the brunette questions, giving the woman an incredulous look.

Sasha shrugged. "Shut up, you stupid investigator, I'll eat my potatoes when I want to" she says and Eren shook his head at her. Her reply had sounded like something a child would say after being told they couldn't play with their favourite toy. Sasha Blouse was probably one of the most laid back cops he'd ever met. But when it came to actually working and facing danger, she really topped the ranks. Must have been handy growing up in the mountains where survival is common sense.

Sighing, the brunette looked to his right. Marco Bodt sat there, a concentrated look on his face. He was a lot different compared to Sasha and Connie. He had the skills of an investigator yet he had decided to be a cop instead. Eren could understand why. There was a lot of pressure that came with this job and Marco had said he wouldn't be able to deal with it himself.

"Hey Marco, if you think too hard your head will explode" Eren says, smirking. Marco looked over at him and gave him a smile. "Eren, you're so carefree…" he says and the brunette smiled. "No, it's not that. I just don't think about the pastor the future. Only the present" he says.

Marco only continued smiling. "I wish I could be like you. My past is the only thing that holds me down" he says, looking away. Eren didn't know what had happened in Marcos past and he wasn't about to ask him. There were lines even he wasn't willing to cross.

"Well, learning to let go is a good start to becoming an amazing detective like me" Eren says, sitting back in his chair and stretching his arms above his head. "Once you get past that step, everything comes easier." He says, his hands coming down again and pressing together.

"You guys are way too serious" Connie said, giving both Eren and Marco a bored look. Eren looked over at him with an even more uninterested look on his face. "Connie, no one can ever be as excited as you are. Besides… think about where we work. This job requires a certain extent of seriousness, don't you think? Half-assedly going through the day will only give you half-ass results"

"Since when did you become so philosophical?" Sasha questions, yet another steamed potato in her hand. "But I can understand what you're saying. If you eat half of a potato and stop there, there'll be half of it left" she says. Connie gives him a strange look. "I don't understand that logic"

"She's trying to say that if you stop halfway, you're going to have an incomplete baggage on your shoulder. Doing something requires all of you, not half of you" Eren says. Connie looks away, finally understanding. "It's not like I do everything half-heartedly…. Even I don't want lame results because I couldn't use my full potential…"

Eren sighed out. "You're not wrong. But there's always room for improvement, even for someone like me. I'm not perfect and neither is anyone else. We all have our flaws" he says, getting up from his desk and stretching his limbs.

"Well, I'm off. Enjoy your shitty work while I enjoy mine" he says as he starts packing away the stuff on his desk. Once everything was inside his bag he started walking out of the room, receiving parting words from some of his over dramatic co-workers and friends.

Once he was outside the building of Tsubasa Agencies he walked over to his and opened it, placing his bag down on the passenger seat while he sat in the drivers. A chill travelled up his spine as his back pressed against the cold seat.

He brought his hands up and blew into them, rubbing them together as he did so in an attempt to bring back some warmth and feeling in his hands. He sighed out. His plan to heat up his hands was failing miserably, so instead he chose to start the car up and turn on the heating system.

He waited a few minutes for the car to heat up. Once he felt the gush of warm air that came out the vents he let out a relived sigh. He wanted nothing more than to sit there and doze off, his body lulled by the amazing heat that was engulfing him like a blanket and making it almost impossible for him to fight his own drowsiness.

If you hadn't guessed already, it was really cold. The mid-winter air was cold as ice and his breathes came out in white puffy clouds. He didn't doubt that it was below zero degrees outside. There were even drops of snow falling down and covering the world in white, or just his. He wanted to get home and have a hot bath. He knew that once his ice-cold skin touched the water it would feel as if he was burning, but he could care less. He needed warmth.

He closed his eyes, hands gripping around the steering wheel anxiously. He could feel it. It was that same feeling he'd had for the past few days. That feeling where everything around you becomes insignificant and your mind can only focus on one thing. That feeling where your blood ran cold and the hairs on the back of your neck stood on end. That feeling of complete helplessness.

The feeling of being watched.

He could feel it. He had looked around before he got into his car and confirmed that there was no one but him there. But he still felt it.

He was being watched.

* * *

Once he had left Tsubasa Agencies he had gone over to his home, just wanting to get away and hide from everything else. He needed an escape and he needed it now, but he knew that he'd never be able to get one no matter how hard he tried.

He could still feel eyes watching him, even as he pulled away from his work place and started the long drive to his home. He had hoped that the feeling would disappear as he left but it only persisted. He didn't even know why he had even hoped for it to go away.

The whole week had given him time to analyse this new feeling. He had felt its persistent burning at the back of his head all the time. But he realized that it was only ever present in his house and in his car. Anywhere else he went and it just went away. Still, he felt safe wherever he went now, regardless of him feeling like he has eyes on him or not.

Even when he bathed or showered Eren felt that feeling of being watched. It makes him feel weird. He didn't enjoy being watched while in such a vulnerable state. Not only that but it creeped him out. it had gotten so bad that he'd started sleeping with a gun by his side, well, that was if he even slept at all. Most nights he was too scared to close his eyes and allow sleep to take over him.

It was like that time when he was seven years old and their house had been broken in to. He had stayed up that night because he wanted to play the game his dad had bought him, but when he heard the sound of the front door being opened and heavy footsteps he had regretted that decision straight away.

Two or three men had come into the living room where he had been, expecting it to be empty and instead finding Eren, who had frozen up in fear. At first they took no interest in him. They just stared at him. He stared back at them, eyes wide and filled with shock and surprise. It was silent. His game had still been playing, but it was as important as sand in that moment.

"Why not take the runt? He'll be worth more money than anything else in this room" one of the men had said. Eren didn't understand the words the man had said, but he understood the look in his eyes. Danger. It spelt out danger for him. And, like any other child who had been raised by good parents, his first instinct was to run and scream for his mother.

Of course he had been too late and the men had been too fast. He was grabbed by one of them with ease- which was to be expected since he was just a seven year old. He had tried to scream but they had placed a cloth over his mouth and a sickly sweet scent filled his nostrils and suddenly he felt really tired. Everything after that had been nothing but a blur.

When he had woken up it had been in a hospital room with both his mom and dad had been waiting patiently for him to wake up. He was confused. He'd asked his parents what had happened and they had told him. He was about to be kidnapped by thieves who had broken in to their house.

He had been lucky – although he'd been forced to inhale chloroform and feel into a deep sleep, he'd still been lucky; because his dad had ended his shift early that morning (He was a doctor so he did shifts) and got there just as they were pulling Eren's unconscious body out of the house.

Grisha had been just as shocked as the men had been. He pulled his phone out once he recovered from his shock and once the men had seen this they dropped Erens small body onto the ground and made a run for it. Grisha had run to his son and lifted him up off of the cold ground and rushed inside to wake up his wife- who had fallen asleep while reading a book- and tell her about what had just happened. They rushed Eren to the hospital and kept him there.

He'd been asleep for two days. Two whole days. That was to be expected. His child-body couldn't handle the effects of the drug or the quantity they had forced upon him. They were surprised that he had even woken up at all, but were extremely grateful that he had.

He hadn't been able to sleep for a long time after that. He had nightmares each time he did. Not only that but he was scared. He was afraid someone would come into his room and kidnap him, or worse, kill him. It took him a while to finally feel safe in his own home. He had to go for a lot of therapy just to overcome the trauma the event had brought.

But he was an adult now. He was an adult. Therapy wasn't and option for him now. He had no trauma. Just the feeling of being amount of therapy would make it go away because it wasn't something mental. It was real. He was being watched.

And that's why he felt like this was like the time when he was seven. He hadn't been able to sleep because he was scared of being stolen or killed. That was exactly how he felt now, except it was much worse now. Because he was grownup now.

Back then he had his parents to protect him. Now he was all by himself. If someone tried to do anything he would be all by himself. He wouldn't be able to rely on his parents anymore because they weren't there. It wasn't a child anymore.

So he knew. He knew that he was alone and he knew that if he closed his eyes at night, and allowed himself to be vulnerable, he might not open them in the morning because he'd be dead. Killed by a man he knew nothing about but was desperately trying to.

Actually, if he could he would have gladly just abandoned this case and run away. But he knew that he couldn't. As much as he didn't want to know anything about this person causing so much trouble, he knew that he needed to know everything there was to know about him. But on top of that he was scared, and for good reasons.

And that's why he kept a gun by his side and struggled to sleep at night. He was terrified. Because it was just him and he'd have to fight his battles all by himself. it wasn't like he couldn't. he had gone through standard police training and combat classes during the academy.

He was certainly _not_ weak. But, when fighting against someone you knew absolutely nothing about, it was only natural you'd be nervous and scared. You had to expect the unexpected and deal with everything as it gets thrown at you.

Eren let out a defeated sigh. He knew there was nothing he could do. He had to wait. He had to solve this case. He was already starting to walk on a tight rope.

 _*ring! ~ *_

His train of thought was deterred by the sound of his phone going off. He contemplated if he should answer it or allow it to ring on until the caller gave up. He looked ahead of him, his eyes focused on the road. He would have to let it go unanswered. He was quite close to his house so he could just call the person back later.

The phone eventually went dead and Eren continued staring in front of him. He was a bit curious about who would be calling him. It wasn't like he never got any calls, but it was rare for him to receive any at this time of day. It must have been important then.

He wondered if it was Erwin. When Eren started the case he and Erwin had started talking a lot over the phone. Eren often asked him advice about the case, and on the rare occasion that Erwin called him, he normally asked Eren two questions: "How is the case going?" "How are _you?_ "

They were both pointless questions to Eren. The answer to both of them was always the same so Eren didn't know why the elder male insisted on asking him the whole time. "I don't know" and it was a fair answer, at least he thought so. He honestly didn't know how or where the case was, and he didn't even know how he felt about it.

He knew how he felt about the person he was after, but he didn't know how he felt about the case as a whole. Honestly, he just wanted to take all the files and burn them, along with the killer. He was starting to become frustrated. He'd been working on this case for at least five months now.

He felt like, with each passing day, he was slowly losing his insanity. Just the other day he started talking to a car meter as if it were a real person. Someone had literally pointed at him and told him to see a psychologist and then walked away, muttering something about crazy people. Apart from being extremely embarrassed he had been extremely frightened. His mental health was starting to be affected by the case, and that wasn't good.

Erens train of thought stopped right there. He didn't want to think about it any further. For today he wanted to take a break from the case. He was going to go home, have a nice hot bath and attempt to sleep. At this point he didn't mind if he woke up or not.

He let out a sigh. He could see his house coming into view. For the first time in a whole week he was actually glad to see it. He hadn't looked forward to go home for obvious reasons, but now all he wanted to do was be inside and get slobbered by his dog, Kohl.

Once he stopped in front of his house he stood still for a while. He fished his phone out of his pocket and looked at who the caller was. "If it's about work better get it over and done with now" he mutters to himself as he goes over to the call log and looks at the person who had called him. "Hanji?" he says out loud, looking at the name and number with confusion.

He clicked redial and pressed the phone against his ear. Hanji was a woman who works at Maria Corp- a agency that co-worked with Tsubasa. Research was kept there and bodies were examined. Hanji was one of the examiners that Eren sent al his cases to, well, the ones that involved dead bodies. All forensic work was done there. Eren even worked there sometimes.

The phone beeped a few times before the receiver answered. "Hello, this is Hanji" came a woman's voice through the speaker and into Erens ear. "Hanji? It's me, Eren. You tried to call me earlier. Is there something you wanted to talk about?" he questions. The woman on the to other end of the line let out a hearty laugh.

"Eren! just the person I've been looking for. Yes, I do have something I need to discuss with you. It's about those new bodies you brought in last week. Ferran Gottfrid and Carlota Vilis. I've managed to find some useful information that I think you'd like to see. But you'll have to come over, and as soon as possible. This might be a break to your case"

Eren stayed silent for a while before letting out a sigh. "How soon?" he asks her, his voice drained. "Today still. Maybe in the next hour even." She says. Eren lets out yet another sigh. He had expected her to say that. He shook his head. "Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can. And this better not take long" he says as he starts his car up again and hangs up his phone, throwing it next to his bag on the passenger seat. He guessed that taking a break would have to wait.

* * *

Eren had driven to Maria Corp shortly after his phone call with Hanji. When he arrived at the building he had felt relieved. He wouldn't feel like he was being watched here. Of course he was also dreading going inside. He hated the place where Hanji was stationed with her crew. It wasn't just because there were a lot of dead bodies.

He just didn't want to see the victim of _his_ case because it would only remind him that he hadn't been quick enough to solve the case and that yet another innocent person had been killed. It was depressing for him, but he knew that he had to go inside. Hanji had found out something that was supposedly useful. So, he sucked it up and went inside and walked over to Hanji's exam room.

"Eren! it's been so long since I've last seen you!" she exclaims as she hugs the poor male, squashing his face in-between her breasts. Everyone in the room looked at the scene, not bothered at all. This happened all the time. "You saw me last week you idiot" Eren says, his words muffled by the chest he was trying to get his face out of.

"You're my sweet little nephew! You should visit your poor auntie more often!" she says, finally releasing him from her death hold. Eren glared at the woman. She was actually his dads sister, therefor his aunt. She was seven years older than him and she acted like a child (1). "You're an idiot." He says and the woman's eyes turn glossy.

"You're so mean to me!" she says. Eren sighs. He and Hanji had actually grown up together. When he was eight his grandparents had died in a car accident and Hanji, being fifteen at the time, ended up living with her brother- Erens father of course. Although she was only his half-sister Eren's father couldn't abandon family. And it probably helped that they had been close siblings.

So Eren didn't really regard her as his aunt, if anything she was more of an older sister to him. The word "aunty" just didn't fit the rowdy woman. "Stop being so childish. Let's get this over and done with" he says, sighing out. Hanji pouted and flipped her brown bangs out of her eyes. "If you insist" she says as she walks over to a metal examining table that had a body on it that was covered with a white sheet.

Eren followed after the unnaturally cheerful woman. He felt like sighing out. Hanji was always a like this. She was childlike and overly excited. But even so, she was still really good at her job. Eren had always seen her and his parents as role models because they always excelled in everything they did. His mom was probably not anything like Hanji or his dad- seeing as she was just a teacher- but she was extremely kind. And he admired her for that.

"Well, here's our victim~" Hanji says, disrupting Erens train of thought. He looked over at the woman and then down at the body they had stopped by. She pulled the white sheet off and revealed the body hidden beneath it. "Ferran Gottfrid, 35 years old, married to Adalene Gottfrid, has two children and works at Wulf Pharmacies-"

"I know all of that, Hanji. Tell me what you found" he says, crossing his arms impatiently. She may have been family but at the moment they were both doing their job so he didn't care about formalities or being moderately nice. "Yes, impatient brat" she chuckles out as she picks up a pair of surgical gloves and throws them over at Eren.

He caught them with ease and put them on. Hanji put a pair on herself and pointed over at the "Y" incision on the man's upper body. "Hold that side open for me" she instructs. Eren says nothing and does as told. He lifts the one side of the cut, revealing everything underneath the skin. "I actually examined this body the day you brought it but I haven't gotten to telling you about my findings. This week has been hectic. A lot of cases are being brought in."

"That's fine. You're telling me now so it's okay. What are your observations?" he questions, looking at the woman rather than at the victim. "Well, don't you notice anything different about this one?" Hanji answers with a question of her own. Eren looked down at the body, not really bothering to look under the skin, and then back at Hanji.

"It looks just like the others" he says. Hanji shakes her head at him. "But it isn't. This one is completely different. See, the other bodies you have brought me were all stuffed with white roses, so there were always incisions made on them and all their organs were removed. But this one didn't have any incisions on it. The only thing that had really been done was the engravings on the back and the right eye being removed and a rose replacing it. See"

As she finishes off she lifts the other flap of useless skin and shows Eren what was beneath. Erens eyes widened. He hadn't noticed that this body wasn't stuffed. He had only paid attention to the marking on the man's back, assuming that he'd been stuffed just like any other victim from the case. He probably should have been more observant that day. He wanted to kick himself in the head for missing that detail.

"But if this one wasn't stuffed then it means that it isn't the same killer" Eren points out and Hanji shakes her head. "No, this is definitely the same killer. The eye being replaced by the rose is a dead giveaway. And there's no way this could be a copycat either. This body was taken care of with such delicacy, just like the others. No prints, hair or even fibre were found."

"I don't know. This could very well be a copycat…" Eren says, not quite believing Hanjis explanation. "Impossible. And you know why?" she questions. Before Eren could even answer she lifted up a small little bag with something gross looking inside. "I found this inside his small intestines. I had it analysed and found out that it was actually a rose before, well, being digested."

"So he made him eat a rose? That's actually clever. Had you not found that out he probably would have gotten away with this one" Eren says, but he was still unconvinced. Hanji saw his disbelief. "Eren, believe me. This guy has the same killer as the others. But I think the killer is starting to become lazy. I mean, he didn't go through the effort of stuffing them, only clearing his prints and any other traces of him. Even the method of killing is a bit strange"

"How was he killed?" Eren questions, his interest piqued. "Well, with the other victims it's always something extravagant like death by fire or having their heads cut off or being left to bleed to death. But this one was something… well, less extravagant. He was poisoned. Simply just poisoned. And apart from finding poison in his stomach we found something else which was also quite odd"

"What did you find?" Eren questions. "Coffee. I found coffee. I'm assuming that the poison was mixed into it and he drank it that way, but I can't be certain." She informs. Eren gives her an odd look. "There's nothing odd about that though. Maybe he just had a cup of coffee before he was attacked"

"I also thought that at first. I suppose this is where I bring in our second victim, Carlota Vilis" Hanji says, walking over to the table next to the one they were currently at. Eren followed her and listened as she explained, all the while pulling the sheet off and exposing the woman beneath. "She had been killed in the same way he had. What was odd was that she had also had coffee in her along with the poison. That has to mean something."

Eren brought his hands up to massage his temples. He was finding it extremely hard to process all of this information. _So the bodies hadn't been stuffed, they were both poisoned and had traces of coffee in their system…_ "I just don't understand. If they have the same killer why is he suddenly doing this? I doubt that he'd actually be lazy…" Eren trails off, thinking back to the mark on one of the victims back.

"Maybe… maybe he isn't just getting lazy… if anything I'd say he's trying to taunt us. He's treating this like a game. And if we win we get him, but if he wins… he gets us." Eren says. Hanji shrugs. "That could be. Maybe he's sick of killing innocent people and he actually wants to get caught, but doesn't want to give himself away without testing your abilities to find him. I doubt he'd just turn himself in. he's doing this for the thrill of being caught"

"That's pretty twisted. But it's not like anything else he has done wasn't twisted. This whole case is just messed up." he comments, groaning out tiredly. "You could always drop the case and give it to someone else" she suggests. Eren scowls at her. "You know for a fact that I wouldn't do that. I've come this far and I'm not going back now. It'd be utterly pointless. Besides… I want to catch this guy and lock him up. He doesn't deserve to breath in the city air"

Hanji doesn't say anything. She only smiles at him. She was quite pleased with his answer. She knew that he wouldn't give this case up, even if it meant putting himself in danger. He wouldn't let someone as cruel as their John Doe continue his torturous killings. She was quite proud of him. Not many had the same passion as his and it was probably because of that, that he has made more progress in this case than any other investigators had.

"Stop staring at me with that look… it's creepy" Eren says, glaring at the woman. Hanji pouts. "I can't help it! I'm just so proud of my little nephew~ he's grown up so much! I can't believe that little spoiled brat turned out to be such a fine young man. it actually makes me feel emotional" she says cheerfully. Eren rolls his eyes. He didn't know how she could be so excited at a time like this.

"But… it saddens me that he's willing to give up his own life just to put someone behind bars…" Hanji then says, suddenly becoming serious. Eren gave her a weak smile. "Even if it saves ten people I'd willingly give myself up." he says.

"I know. And that's why I'm proud of you. You always put others before yourself… but I know that you'll catch this guy… but promise me that you won't get yourself killed doing it" she says and Eren gives her a sad smile. "I can't make promises"

 _Because I won't be able to keep them…_

* * *

Eren and Hanji had talked about a few more things regarding the two victims before the brunette left and made his way home. He was still quite perplexed by everything Hanji had told him. He didn't know if it fit in or not but he wasn't about to completely ignore her findings. It was somewhat of a lead and he had to consider it. He would have to dig a bit deeper but he was sure that he would find something out.

Once he had gotten home he checked his mail box and pulled out the few envelopes that were there. When he had all the mail he walked into his house and into his kitchen. The feeling of being watched had become stronger when he stepped inside but he tried not to take much note of it. He was too busy looking at one of the envelopes in his hand.

He walked into his kitchen and placed his bag down on the small dining table and walked over to the kettle and turned it on. He placed all the envelopes down on the counter top except for one that had caught his attention.

It was a plain envelope with his name and address were on the front. What really caught his eyes was the beautiful handwriting. It was so neat and tidy Eren had thought it'd been printed on. not only that but the writing looked pretty fresh. The other thing that he noticed was that there was no return address. He found that extremely suspicious.

With great delicacy he broke the seal and pulled out its contents.

His eyes widen, his face draining in colour and the objects in his hand dropping to the floor. His heart was suddenly struggling to pump blood and he was having a hard time breathing. He was having panic attack.

His frightened eyes stared down at the item that had fallen to the floor. He then glanced at his fingers, taking note of their sudden moistness, before looking back at the floor.

There before his eyes lay a rose completely covered in blood and a letter with beautifully, bloody words written on it.

" _I'm closer than you think"_

* * *

 _ **He he… well. I took longer than I intended to update this. I hope that this chapter was worth the wait. I had some doubts with it. I rewrote some things a couple of times… I still don't know if this is enjoyable but I'm hoping that it is.**_

 _ **As usual I hope for reviews. I've been getting a lot of good comments from you guys so I hope you continue supporting this story!**_

 _ **I really do hope this chapter wasn't as bad as I think it is… I promise that the next will be a lot more interesting. I can officially say that the fun starts now. Expect drama. Also… expect some… sexual themes. And then there are also the sad, heartrending themes. Expect that. Actually, just expect anything and everything.**_

 _ **1: I made it so Hanji wasn't too old. In the anime she and Levi are supposed to be about 15 years older than him but I just don't want to make them that old. So, basically his dad was about twenty when Eren was born (because I feel like him and Carla were a little wild in their adolescence) and Carla was 19. Hanji was obviously 7. As of now Hanji is 30, Grisha is 43 and Carla is 42. I think that works. Oh well.**_

 _ **Until next time!**_

 _ **Ciao~**_


	4. Chapter 3

**WARNINGS: rape, crude language and death. Lol, enjoy my angels. This one is hectic.**

 **My Insanity**

 **Chapter 3**

* * *

Eren stared infront of him. He was starting to question himself. He wondered if he was a man or a coward. He felt like it was the latter. His very being was made out of coward fibres that made up the rest of him. He was the epitome of it all.

The reason to him thinking all of this was a very simple one. But to explain it he had to think back to the start of the day when he had just woken up...

The morning sun had shone through his curtains and forced him to wake up and face the world. He had groaned and covered his head under his pillow, hoping to fall back to sleep, only to have his alarm clock go off a mere five minutes later. He had thrown it against a wall, the poor thing breaking upon impact and then falling to the ground to lay beside the other two useless alarm devices which had been broken two days prior.

He had never been a morning person, and now was no different. In fact, it was worse. He had gotten little sleep the night before so his tiredness had only made his mood worse. Unfortunately he had no choice but to get out of bed and get ready for the day ahead. He didn't want to, but it was inevitable. Just the day before he yet again had to write out a report about a victim they had found two days ago.

He had started to think that the killer was starting to mess with him, but after the last body they found he was a little more convinced. At first he was only sceptical because there wasn't enough to go on, the signs were small and none of them could really be seen as the killer calling Eren out. But the last body had come with a bone chilling note, stuck into the corpses forehead with a pin.

" _Eren Yeager, would you kill a killer?"_

That had been written down on a page for him and him only. He had stared at that question for ten minutes before whole minutes and he still could not come up with an answer. It should have been simple to solve. But he still found it difficult. And so the question had been haunting him even more than the eyes that were watching him.

If he were faced with a murderer would he be able to lift his gun and fire a shot directly at his head? he had to think about the circumstances of the situation. Would it be needed to shoot him to apprehend him, or would he be able to negotiate with him? or would the killer be unarmed, unaware and just there, with Eren pointing his gun at him?

He didn't think he'd be able to kill anyone. Whether they were good or bad , he still valued the lives of others way too much. He didn't have the right to pass judgement onto others. So when he got out of bed this morning he had hoped that he'd go through the day without needing to make big decisions like that.

He had eaten, fed Kohl and then left for work. At some point during his drive to the office he had spontaneously decided to turn down the wrong street- one a few blocks away from the office building- and ended up driving to his favourite coffee shop.

Of course it didn't really matter. He didn't need to be at work. He was allowed to do all, well majority, of his work at home. So he had made the bright idea to go in, sit at a small booth in the corner near a window and ordered a cup of coffee and some biscuits to snack on. A half hour later, when he looked up to find two people walking past the window; one with an anxiously excited look on his face and the other with a forlorn look on his and a shaking hand by his side clutching onto something black, did he regret his decision of going to the coffee shop because the next five minutes after were slow and completely unstoppable.

The two men barged into the shop and immediately lifted their weapons. One had two silver plated pistols and the other had a heavy duty machine gun. While the one with the pistols pointed his guns at the other customers the other grabbed nearby chairs and tables and barricaded them against the opening.

"Close all the curtains! Now!" the guy with the pistols yelled, an otherworldly look on his face. "I won't hesitate to shoot!" he screams and to emphasize his point he took one of his guns and shoved it in a nearby patrons face, which just happened to be a young girl.

Her eyes bulged out of her head as she stared at the barrel of the weapon. Tears instinctively formed in her eyes and she looked up at the man with fear. Erens hands became clammy as he watched the scene unfold before his eyes. The girl, even at her young age, was exceptionally beautiful. Eren could see that, so what happened next was quite predictable.

The man, upon realizing the beauty of the girl, smirked down at her before grabbing her dark brown strands between his fingers and forcing her to stand up. The older man at the booth she had been sitting in stood up immediately as he watched her be dragged by the perpetrator.

"No, please, leave her alone!" he yells as he tries to grab out to her. "You! Stay back!" the pistol baring guy yells as he shifts his gun over to the man that had stood up. "I won't hesitate to shoot" he says as he presses his gun against the girls neck, right where her jaw and neck connected.

"And that would be a shame" he says as the tip of his pistol starts sliding down the girls neck and his hand holding her hair grabbed onto her jaw and forced her to look at him. "Wouldn't want such a pretty thing to go to waste" he says, smirking down at her before forcing her to the ground and pressing his foot against her head, keeping the girl in question down.

"Now this is how we're going to do this. You fuckers are going to close those damn curtains and push every-single chair and table up against them. They you're going to sit on that floor and give me every fucking cell phone or wallet you have on you!" he yells, "And while you do that, I'll be having some fun with this piece of meat"

"No, please! She's my daughter, leave her alone!" the distressed man at the front booth yells. Eren felt his heart beat quicken as he watched the scene unfold. "She's only 15, please!" and as the man started advancing towards the other male holding down his trembling daughter, Eren felt like screaming out because the next thing that happened was just as predictable as everything else that had happened so far.

 _*Bang!~*_

And the shot came twice. Once to the man's head, next to his heart. And the only thing that came after that was silence, and the sound of the now dead man falling to the ground with a heavy thud and a bone cracking resonance. And as Eren watched the blood puddle from underneath the man, his skin became white and his body broke out in a cold sweat.

The scream the girl made as she watched her father's blood pool around her was so distressing, so blood-curdling, that Eren even found himself covering his ears with his hands to shield them from the misery. The girl tried to break loose from the pistol guy, but the man only tightened his grip on her. "Let me go! Let me go! Daddy!" and the hurt, the panic, everything was clear in her voice. It was an agonizingly tragic sight to watch.

"Your father isn't going to answer you so stop struggling" the pistol guy growls out as he hits her with the back of his gun. She only continued her cries. "Shut up!" the man hisses out as he kicks the cowering girl, resulting in her falling further into the pool of her own father's blood. Erens hands balled into fists. "Now all of you do what I say. And while I'm in the back, doing my business, Anselme over here will be taking all of your valuables"

"Adler, please. Leave the girl. Let's just take the money and go before the cops get here. You already killed someone. Our crime is already worse compared to what it should be…" Anselme says. Eren looked over at him. He was a biggish man. His structure was almost like Eren's himself. But he was shaking, even more so than the girl Adler was holding.

Eren could tell that this man, Anselme, would have rather been anywhere but there… but compared to his friend… it was a pretty noticeable difference. Adler had a crazed smile on his face. He was enjoying himself. Everyone in the room could see it. It was as visible as broad daylight.

"Do as I say before another one of you cunts get shot!" Adler shouts as he pulls the young girl by her hair and drags her to the back where the kitchen was. A few seconds later more people came running out, a few chefs with terrified expressions on their faces. Adler followed after them and pointed his gun towards the cowering cashier.

"Empty all the cash into a bag, now!" he orders, looking over at Anselme, "And stop being such a pussy, Anselme. You can have my sloppy seconds when I'm done" Adler continues, casually pointing his gun in Anselmes direction and winking at him suggestively. The other man looked noticeably sickened by the man's words.

"Adler, someone probably heard those shots… let's just take the cash and go…there's no doubt that cops will be crawling this place in a few minutes…" Anselme says, giving the other a pleading look. Adler only shook his head. Anselmes words only fell on deaf ears.

"Watch these people before I soot you, too" he says as he walks to the back. For a short moment it was extremely quiet, but the a terrified scream resounded from the back room. Eren closed his eyes before looking over at Anselme. His face was probably just as pale as the rest of the people in the room.

The man closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before opening them again and looking over at all the people. "N-now… I really didn't want to do any of this but at this point there's no going back. So all of you empty all of your belongings into this bag… and then sit in a line with your hands in front of you. As long as you do what I say then no one needs to get hurt"

And so they all did as he said…

* * *

Erens POV

* * *

We all did as we were told and put all of our belongings in a bag the man had given us. Once everything we had on our persons was put down we all sat down with our hands in front of us just like the guy, Anselme, told us to do.

Luckily I sat at the far, right where my bag was. It wasn't that important. Nothing in there would help me right now, but all of my files were in there. I can't lose them… although I shouldn't really be worrying about that considering I, and all of these other people here, were currently facing an extremely dire situation.

I had been watching Anselme this whole time. I can tell that this is probably not something he does often, if not at all. he had walked over to the man that had been shot earlier and took a napkin and covered his face with it. It was an oddly touching display of compassion. Kind of disturbing as well.

A killer, or better yet, a bad person, would not do something like cover the face of a dead man with a piece of cloth- let alone the person they themselves had killed. Well, not that Anselme was the one that killed the man. But looking over him I could rell that he wasn't a bad guy at all. he was extremely nervous. But I suppose that's normal when you get dragged into something extremely arduous by a friend. He probably thought that this was just going to be a "Come in and steal then run" type of job, but that is obviously not the case. They had obviously made a few mistakes.

Their first mistake was choosing this shop. Reason being that this shop doesn't make _that_ much money. They could have just as well gone and robbed a corner shop instead and gotten more or less the same amount of cash. The fact that they chose this shop actually brings about curiosity in me. Obviously they should have known that this is just a simple coffee shop that doesn't make as much as a regular restaurant.

Then why did they choose this place? It doesn't make sense. They could have robbed the small gold trading shop next door but they came here instead. Was it just a random picking? An act of completely unplanned decision to just come in and rob the first shop they see? Or was it something deliberately thought out?

If it was a deliberate choice to raid this place then the question still remains. Why? Were they given false information about this place, and if so, who gave them the information and why? Or maybe they just chose this place because they were desperate and needed whatever amount of money they could get. Still, this was a big mistake on their part.

The second mistake they made was grabbing that girl. Or better yet, the mistake _Anselme_ made was allowing _Adler_ to grab hold of that girl. Because it was that mistake that led to all the other ones occurring. Adler noticing the girl's beauty was their third mistake. And I know that it's irrational for me to say this, but Adler is a predator. If he notices the beauty of someone it can only lead to misfortune. And it did, because the fourth mistake Adler made was shooting that girl's father who was so desperately trying to save his daughter.

And by doing so he not only deprived the girl from a loving dad, but he probably broke that poor girls lucidity by killing her father right in front of her. And he only further made things worse by committing his fifth and final mistake. He took that poor girl, after already tormenting her with the death of her dad, and raped her. Well, is raping her. He's raping her and taking away her purity, just like he took away her father. It wouldn't surprise me if she never recovered from this. I know I wouldn't.

Thinking about that girl being raped made me sick… I'd be sick about anybody being raped, but the fact that I'm here when it's being done makes me feel useless. I should have been able to help them, but thinking logically I know I would have just ended up like the man across the room currently bathing in his own cold blood.

There were two men, one with a machine gun and the other holding dual pistols. And then there was me, unarmed and trying to be a hero. There is no way I would get out of that situation because I'd be dead. And that wouldn't help me at all. There was far too much I needed to do so dying here would just be shameful.

I think I'm finally making a break in the case, and that is why I can't afford to die here, especially under these circumstances.

For a while I could hear the sound of creaks and crying coming from the back room. It was disturbing. I think everyone knew exactly what the cause of those sounds was. But listening now I could only hear the creaking. It makes me think about the girl. Did she just give up? Was she killed? Or did she finally go into shock?

I think the latter was a possibility. Her dad was killed in front of her and now she was being raped by the man who had killed him. I think anybody would go into shock.

I held my hand to my mouth to both stop myself from gagging and laughing at the irony of her situation. Anselme saw this and pointed his gun at me. He gave me such a look that made me think I was the one holding the gun up at him and not him pointing it at me. I couldn't stop myself from chuckling at the look he gave me.

I probably looked insane, but if anyone was me, and actually understood this situation down to the core, then they'd be laughing at the ridiculousness of it.

"What's your problem? Why are you laughing? Do you think this whole ordeal is a joke?" Anselme says. I stare directly into his eyes, a scowl on my face. I wasn't scared of him. "There is absolutely nothing funny about your partner killing someone, raping a girl and then holding us hostage here like some caged animals."

Anselme lowers his gun a bit. He looked visibly conflicted by my words. "It wasn't supposed to be like this…" he mutters under his breath. I guessed that it would be something like that. After all, Adler seems like someone with hidden motives so he couldn't have seen this happening. I pity him.

"You know SWAT will be here, along with various others. That includes snipers. They'll surround the perimeter. There's no point in you even staying here. Once they get a good vision of you they'll shoot. Just turn yourself in. there isn't a good outcome for you and your partner." I say and the man glares at me. I still wasn't scared.

"Keep quiet. Adler is the one in charge. He'll get us out of this… so I don't want to hear any crap from a bystander" he says and I chuckle. "I'm a cop" I say, smirking, "which only makes your crime worse" I end off and his eyes widen. It was a little lie. I was a cop, in a sense, but I was maybe a little more educated than your ordinary officer.

"So trust me when I say you should turn yourself in… if you do it now then you'll only be written off as an accomplice… but your friend… it's already too late for him. Hurry up before it's too late for you, too" I say and the man just looks away from me. "Just shut up" he says. I could see the look in his eyes. He knows that I'm right but he is choosing to ignore me. He thinks his buddy Adler is going to get him out but that's just not going to happen.

"Fine, I won't speak any further. There's no point in talking to someone who refuses to listen to reason anyway" I say and the man just continues looking elsewhere. I wasn't really happy with his cooperation but I can't do anything about it. He's the one holding a heavy grade machine gun…

I looked away from the man and over at the other patrons in the room. There were fifteen, including me. They all looked terrified. I couldn't blame them. This situation was terrible. I can't say I've ever been in a position such as this one. There was that thing with those robbers when I was smaller but I don't think that could even be compared to this.

*Ring*~

The sound of a familiar ring tone brings me to. I look over at the bag that held all of our belongings then at Anselme who's gaze had followed mine. He looked anxious. "Whose is that?" he questions, looking visibly panicked as his eye dart around the room.

The room was quiet, the only sound being the ringing of the phone and the floor creaking. And once the phone shut off the silence and tension in the room only became worse. Adler choosing this moment to walk back into the room, buckling his pants up with a sick look of pleasure on his face, only worsened it.

"What is that fucking sound?" he questions crudely as he looks around the room. The air was starting to become thick just by this man's filthy presence. Not even a butcher's knife would be able to cut through this tension and awkwardness.

I suddenly felt nervous. I wasn't scared, but my nerves were on edge. I tore my gaze away from them and instead chose to look through the gap by the window.

*Ring*~

The sound of the same phone went off again and I found myself wanting to bend over and empty the contents in my stomach. I really wasn't scared, but as that phone rang on my stomach lurched and bile started rising up in my throat. That's my phone ringing.

"Who's is that?" Adler questions, lifting his gun up and pointing it at the few people in the room. everyone visibly flinched as the weapon passed by them. I know that I need to say something but I just can't find it in me to open my mouth and speak. What would happen if they knew that it was my phone? It's not like I've done something wrong. I put my phone with everyone else's. But the question still remains.

"Who's is it?" Adler questions, this time more forcibly. I sighed out. "It's mine" I say and both men look over at me. Something akin to recognition sparked across Anselmes face as he watched me before looking over at Adler with a nervous expression.

"Adler… he's a cop" he says, "that guy's a cop…" he adds in and Adler looks at me with sick amusement. "Is that so?" he says, questioning no one in particular as he starts walking towards me. I could see the other hostages flinch while I did nothing. I just sat there. I wasn't scared. I just felt sick.

As Adler stopped in front of me he loaded his gun and pressed it against my forehead, right between my eyebrows, with a smirk at his lips. "If you're a cop I should just kill you now. Don't want you doing anything stupid" he says, pressing the barrel deeper into my skin, bruising it. I didn't even flinch. I've experienced much worse things. Well, not really. But I still wasn't afraid of him.

"I wouldn't do that" I say, smiling up at him. "You've already killed an innocent man and raped his daughter. Do you really want to add killing a cop to that? So how about you don't kill me and let me help you instead" I finish. I could tell that everyone else in the room were giving me looks questioning if I was insane. I didn't care.

I didn't know if I was doing this for the sake of saving myself or for the sake of everyone, but I did know that we wouldn't get out of this situation unless we helped them. And while I'm not an expert in these type of situations, I think I will still be able to get us out of it.

I look over at the man at the entrance. If I didn't do something then each and every single one of us might end up like that poor man who had to be made an example out of. I wasn't afraid of dying, but I didn't want to die right now under these circumstances. That would just be pathetic and I refused to allow it to happen. And that's why I have to help these guys.

"You can help us?" Adler questions and I nod my head. "Whether I can or not isn't important. I'm your only hope of getting out of this thing. If you kill me you'll only have the same fate"

* * *

Normal POV

* * *

Adler lowered his weapon. It was at this moment Eren realised that his phone had stopped its persistent ringing. "Fine, then you'll help us. And if you do anything stupid I'll kill each and every one of these people" Adler says and Eren scoffs.

"I don't doubt that you'll do that" he says, "after all you killed an innocent man who was only trying to save his daughter" he continues and the other people in the room looked at him as if he were a mad man. "Where is the girl?" he questions and Adlers eyes twitched with annoyance. "She passed out" was all he could say in reply.

Eren grit his teeth but said nothing. He was extremely disgusted in these two men, but mostly in himself for agreeing to help them. He knew that he was doing it for the sake of the other hostages and for himself, but he felt like there was something extremely wrong about this whole situation. Of course everything about it was wrong, but he could shake off the weird feeling he felt.

*ring*~

The phone went off again. "Answer it" Adler says, looking over at Eren and pointing his guns at him. The brunette hesitated at first but got up and walked over to the bag of devices and fished his out. He answered the contraption, sounding as calm as someone being held by gun point possibly could.

"Hello, this is Eren" he says into the microphone. His palms were becoming sweaty.

" _Eren? Where are you? We've sent you numerous texts to meet us at Block 23… there's a hostage situation going on in Café Fredella…"_ it was Armin that had replied to him. Eren found himself wanting to scream out in joy. Armin answering the phone was probably the best thing that could have happened to him since he woke up that morning.

"About that… Armin… I'm in a pinch right now and I need your help" Eren says, "currently… I'm in Fredella... me and 14 other people are being held up by two men and at the moment one of them are trying to shove their gun down my throat…" he says honestly.

" _Eren… that's terrible! We heard gunshots! Are you okay!? Has anyone been injured?!"_ Armin questions in a panic. "One guy is dead… and a girl has been raped… Armin, they're threatening to kill off each hostage one by one if an escape route isn't planned out for them…"

" _Okay… Eren, could you ask the person in charge if it would be possible for them to give us the girl and the man that was killed?"_ Armin asks and Eren looks up at the men. "They're asking if you can hand over the girl and her father" he says and Adler gives him a look. "And what do we get in exchange?"

"He's asking what they get in exchange" he says into the microphone. _"Listen Eren… is your phone on speaker?"_ Armin questions. "No, why?"

" _Because I have a plan…"_

* * *

Once Eren had gotten off of the phone with Armin two paramedics had been allowed into the shop. The trade for the man and the girl had been bullet proof jackets and a small sum of money, which Adler hadn't been picky about.

"It's not a lot but it's worth a dead body and beat up girl" he had said with a nauseating smile on his face followed by a hearty laugh.

Once the bodies had been taken out the room had been filled with silence so silent, Eren was sure he could hear the sound of everyone's hearts beating. And the tension in the room was more intense than it had ever been.

" _We can try to create a stable escape route for them, but five minutes after they've left the building we're going after them."_ Eren remembers Armin saying. _"Until we can provide them with the means to get away, tell them that they can't kill anyone else. Or else we'll send in SWAT and the deal is done"_

Eren had felt both disgusted and relieved. Relieved because he was finally going to get out of this mess, and disgusted because they were basically helping bad people just to escape.

" _But Eren… just remember what I said earlier…"_

He didn't want to think about anything anymore. Adler and Anselme were watching him closely and muttering amongst themselves. They had forced him to sit back with the others. He was glad. He didn't want to be anywhere near them. Still, their gazes made him uneasy. And their chatter only made things worse.

' _Are they plotting to kill me?'_ Eren questioned. It was a possibility. They could have been plotting to kill him, regardless of him being a cop. Eren was valuable. Even though he was helping them there was a risk of him also betraying them. And that would've probably given them a good reason to want to kill him. After all, their whole escape plan was too good to be true. If Eren were them he'd be sceptical as well.

Eren looked away from the two men and over to where his bag had been thrown when they had all moved the tables. There under all the stacks of papers something caught his eyes. He looked back towards Adler and Anselme to see their backs turned towards them. Eren wanted to scream out in joy.

He looked back towards his back and stretched his arm out and grabbed something. He quickly retracted his arm and hid the object in one of the pockets in his jacket. He looked back to see if Adler and Anselme had seen him and sighed a sigh of relief when they hadn't. of course when Adler turned around and gave him a serious look his heart dropped. 'I'm _going to die…'_

"You, what's your name?" To say Eren was taken aback by the question would be an understatement. He was completely shocked. He almost thought the man hadn't asked the question at all. But the impatient look Adler gave him proved that he had.

"E-eren" and he hadn't planned on stuttering out, but it just happened. The question was odd and made him feel uncomfortable. "Well, Eren, we're taking you with us" Adler says and Eren gave them a confused look. "Why would you do that?" he questioned, dumbfound.

"Leverage" Adler says, "If they come after us I'll kill you. So you'll be coming with us to ensure we have a safe getaway" he said. Eren was surprised. He didn't think the man would be able to come up with something so smart. If Eren went with them and they came after the guys they would kill him. But if they didn't Eren would be safe, but they would have let bad guys escape. And there was no guarantee that Eren would be safe.

"I refuse" Eren says sternly, "I won't go with you" he adds in defiantly. Adler grits his teeth at him and lifts his weapons up and points them at him. Eren didn't even flinch. "Do you not understand the position you're in? I could kill you right now if you want?" he questions and Eren smirks. "And if you do that your whole escape plan will be ruined. I understand my position well and you should as well"

"At this point killing you would be worth it" Adler says and Eren shrugs. "Go for it. You'd only be killing yourself in the process" he says and Adler glared at him. Eren ignored his gaze, only pissing the man off more.

Adler suddenly let out a grin and walked up to Eren and grabbed the person next to him and dragged them back to where Anselme was. It was an old man who had been grabbed. Eren stood up and glared at the man. "What do you think you're doing?"

"If you don't come with us I'll kill everyone in this room, starting with this old man. First born, first to die" he says with a grin. Eren scowled. "I can't let you do that." he said and Adler laughed at him. "What are you going to do? You're powerless." And as he said this he pushed the old man to the ground and kicked him.

The man let out a breathless grunt and held onto his left shoulder, pained sounds escaping his mouth. "Oh, look. He's having a heart attack." Adler said with sick amusement. Eren was about to walk forward but Adler only pointed his weapons in Eren's direction again. "Come any closer and I'll shoot. And you should know that I don't bluff"

Eren grit his teeth. It was at this moment that Eren was forced to remember words that he didn't want to remember.

" _Eren Yeager, would you kill a killer?"_

His hand went to the object he had placed in his pocket earlier. He pressed against something and a small click sounded into his ears. He then let out a smile. "I don't bluff either" he said as he pulled the object out of his pocket and pointed it at Adler.

" _Eren, you have your gun on you. If you have to, use it."_

Eren had been hoping not to use it. But at this point, things would only get worse. This was inevitable. It would have happened either way.

"I knew there was something going on. You were planning this from the beginning weren't you?" Adler questions as he stares at the gun in Erens hands. "But you're still at a disadvantage here. I have two guns, and Anselme has a machine gun" he says, "so your little pistol isn't going to give you any results"

"That doesn't matter" Eren says, "I will get results no matter what" he finishes off. Adler looked like a maniac, smiling as if he'd just been given a big Christmas present. "May the best shot win" was all he said before firing his weapons.

Three loud shots echoed off the walls of the room followed by the sound of someone falling to the ground and another groaning in pain.

"That's more painful than I thought it would be" and the one that had spoken was Eren. He looked down at the body of Adler. A sad smile on his face. "I said I'd get results. You should have just sat back and stayed quiet" he said as he walked over to the old man that was on the verge of dying from a heart attack.

He turned the man over and lifted his head. "Relax, sir. You're going to be fine. Paramedics will be with you shortly. Until then could you maybe not die? You'll make me getting shot pointless" he said jokingly, smiling at the man. The old man gave him an odd look. "Y'you're b-bleeding" he stutters out, pointing at the brunettes shoulder that was soaked in blood.

"This is nothing. Please worry about yourself" Eren says, smiling as if it really was nothing. And as if on cue the doors were broken through and SWAT ran in with their weapons ready to shoot the perpetrators. Eren chose this moment to look up at them and inform them of what had happened. "Three shots were fired, two from Adler and one from me. I somehow managed to get him before he could harm anyone else. That man over there is an accomplice but he never fired his weapon once"

And the SWAT team gave him confused looks. "But he did harm someone. Yeager, your arm is bleeding" one of them pointed out. "It's fine. Don't worry about me. Our top priority is the hostages. Please focus on them, not on me" Eren says, shaking his head. The newcomers gave him sceptical glances but did as he said and focused on evacuating the other people.

Paramedics came in and took the old man away along with the corpse of Adler. Anselme was in the process of being taken out, but stopped to question Eren. "Why did you shoot knowing that the both of us had guns?" and Eren had stood up from his seated position and smiled at the man. "Because Adler can't aim and I knew you wouldn't shoot"

And after he said that the man was pulled away. The last of the hostages walked past him. someone short and thin. The person wore a black hoody and when Eren tried to glance at their face he stopped when something disturbing caught his eyes. He wasn't able to see any other features, but what he did see was a pleased smile. And there was something about it that made him want to run to his car and ride off of a bridge.

He was about to call out to the person, despite the foreboding feeling he felt, but he was stopped by Armin walking in and calling out to him. "Eren!" he shouted out in relief as he wrapped his arms around the brunette and squeezed him. "I thought you were going to die" the blonde said, tears at his eyes.

"Armin, you should know that I don't die easy" he said, flinching. Armin noticed this and let go of him. "You've been shot!" he says in a panic. "We need to get you medical treatment!" he says, about to turn around and get help but Eren stopped him. "No, Armin. It's fine for now. I need to do something."

"But Eren-"

"Armin. I'm telling you its fine." Eren says more sternly. Armin glared at him. "It isn't fine, Eren. you're bleeding… an artery could have been hit… you need treatment" he says and Eren shrugs. "If an artery was hit I would be in much more pain. It doesn't even hurt that much. I told you. This is nothing"

"But you're clearly in pain, Eren. Stop being so stubborn…" Armin says. He sighs out when he sees the look on Erens face. He knew the brunette wasn't going to allow him to get him help so he decided to drop it. "Fine… I'm going to go out and if you're not back in ten minutes I'm sending paramedics in"

Eren nodded his head, suddenly becoming silent. Armin didn't comment about this. "By the way… three shots were fired… I know Adler was hit and so were you, but there isn't any sign of a third bullet…" Armin points out and Eren chuckles. "It must be somewhere. It can't just disappear. I'll look. Don't worry. And if I'm not out in ten minutes you have my permission to send in paramedics."

Armin nodded his head and turned around to walk out of the building while Eren stood there in silence. Once Armin was gone he walked over to his bag and lifted it up with his good hand. Bending hurt, but he didn't let it bother him. He needed his bag. It had all of his work in it and without it he would be back where he had started.

Once he had the bag he looked around the room. Smiling weakly, he looks down at his side and moves the right side of his jacket to reveal a massive amount of blood soaking up his shirt. He coughed out into his hand, not surprised when he saw spots of blood on his palm.

His knees suddenly became weak and wobbly. Not being able to keep himself up anymore he fell to the ground. It hurt but he managed to turn around so that he could look up at the ceiling. His vision was starting to fade. Still, he kept a smile on his face. He knew that he probably should have gotten help when Armin had told him he needed it and he was starting to regret not getting it now.

He laid there for what seemed like forever, staring up at the ceiling that was starting to fade away with each passing second. And when his vision finally turned into nothing but darkness his smile had finally fallen and tears escaped his eyes.

" _Eren Yeager, would you kill a killer?"_

"I would" was all he said as he closed his eyes and lost consciousness. And the last thing he heard was the sweet sound of silence and someone in the distance calling out his name.

 _I'm a monster_

* * *

 _ **And there we have it! I am sooooooooo sory that it's this laate. I had planned for it to be updated sooner but I've just been distracted with life. School is a bitch and won't give me any rest. Not only that but I have been getting sick frequently. It sucks. Maybe I'm dying?**_

 _ **Annnywaayyyy! So, I rushed this chapter a little bit. I really do hope that it's okay. Even though I say I rushed it, it still took me forever to write. I had writers block every other day and it was just awful. But I think I'm okay now. I got my inspiration and motivation back!**_

 _ **Enough of that chatter. I hope you guys enjoyed. This chapter was long and had a lot of drama. Some of you are probably thinking what happened came out of nowhere but everything happens for a reason! And you'll find out the reason in the next chapter.**_

 _ **Is Eren dead? Well, that is a possibility, but since I'm not thaaat cruel I won't let that happen. Sorry if anything offended anyone in this chapter and sorry about any inaccuracies.**_

 _ **I hope to get feedback. Of course, you don't have to but reviews=updates.**_

 _ **Until next time!**_

 _ **Ciao~**_


	5. Chapter 4

**My Insanity**

 **Chapter 4**

* * *

 _ **He was floating in an ocean of darkness. There was no light, nothing to guide him through the obscure planetary that was his mind. So he just stayed there and floated and let the darkness pull him along as if he were a puppet attached by strings. He could vaguely hear the sound of something clashing against glass and with time he realized that it was the sound of a bullet, ricocheting from a barrel right into bone.**_

 _ **But he remained calm. He could smell gunpowder and coffee, and the mixture together made him feel at peace. He didn't understand it, but he didn't want to in the first place. He just wanted to float and drift off into the darkness as it pulled him along. But as time passed the clashing of bullet into bone became louder, and with the new volume came a dull ache in his body.**_

 _ **And as he was pulled further into his own abyss the aching became worse and the sounds of screams reverberated along with the bullets crashing into bone. And soon enough he was guided into a part of his mind that wasn't so dark, but not so light. There were splotches of red here and there and in the far distance he could see the flame of a fire. And although the fire was so far he could feel the flames licking against his skin, burning him sweetly.**_

 _ **He wanted that flame. He needed it. But the sound of gunshots and people screaming pulled on him, like a prisoner held up by chains. A sickly sweet metallic scent filled his nostrils and he found himself pushing back the need to vomit. And when he looked up the flame was further away and the heat of the flames was starting to disappear.**_

 _ **He needed to get to those flames. He didn't know why, but he needed to. It was a primal urge that he couldn't control. He knew that once he reached the flames he'd be submerged in fire, that he'd be burnt till there was nothing left. But he still felt an odd attraction towards it. He needed to get there or else he'd be swallowed by the terrifyingly pleasant abyss that was now chasing after him.**_

 _ **He needed to run. The screaming was catching up to him. He felt pain in his left shoulder and an even worse pain in his lower abdomen. It was as if he'd been stabbed and then someone decided to stick their fingers into the wound. He needed to move, but it hurt. That was probably why he'd been floating. He'd just been too numb to the feeling, but the deeper he was pulled into the darkness, the more he became aware of his surroundings and his body.**_

" _ **Eren… Eren… Eren! why are you letting them do this!? Eren!" the screams were becoming more persistent. The sounds were grinding against his skin like a grater. With each scream his skin was peeled at painfully and a pounding against his skull ensued. "He's raping her! Do something! Eren!" "Why aren't you helping?! You're supposed to be helping!"**_

 _ **Bang!**_

 _ **Bang!**_

 _ **He covered his ears, but the sounds seemed to only become louder. "This is your fault!" "You're useless!" "You're a killer!" "A killer!" "A cold hearted killer!"**_

 _ **And through the screaming and gunshots he could hear the sound of laughter. It was sickening. It made him want to curl up into a ball and hide away. And the longer the laughter went on, the more he felt threatened. So he started running. He ignored his pain. If he didn't run and catch up with that sweet flame then he'd be swallowed by his own insanity.**_

 _ **He wanted those flames, he needed them. And as he reached them, and they engulfed him like a blanket, he felt a sense of euphoria. He was burning. The flames were chewing at him, gnawing his skin and it brought him great pleasure. And as the darkness started disappearing so did the screams, the laughter and the gunshots. But as his consciousness faded into nothing, a dark, sinister voice echoed around him and made his whole being tremor.**_

" _ **Eren Jaeger, would you kill a killer?"**_

* * *

When Eren came to the first thing he saw was the dull white of walls. The next thing he noticed was the sound of a beeping monitor sounding out next to him. The bright lighting of the room made his eyes water. He had to fight against the urge to close them again. He tried to sit up but couldn't. The simple action of moving hurt and he found himself wincing as a sharp pain pooled in his lower abdomen.

"Eren!" he heard someone exclaim. He looked to his right to see two familiar blondes sitting in uncomfortable looking chairs besides the bed he was laying in. "Armin, Jean… where am I?" was the first thing that came to mind as he saw the two of them. He was feeling at a loss. Parts of his memory was missing and he couldn't quite place what had happened before he had fallen asleep.

"Eren, you're in a hospital" it was Jean that spoke up, giving Eren a look of pity. Eren ignored the look he received. "I can tell that I'm in a hospital, but _why_ am I here?" he instead questions, giving the two males a deadpan look. Armin smiled weakly.

"Yesterday there was a hostage situation at that coffee shop you frequent a lot… we were trying to sort out the negotiations for the offenders to let you and the hostages go but then we heard gunshots and sent SWAT in. One of the offenders, Adler Strof, had been lying on the floor, shot dead by you. We thought you had only been shot in the shoulder but then you collapsed and you were bleeding heavily so we immediately knew that you'd actually been shot twice. Once in the lower abdomen and then in the shoulder…"

Eren stared at them. "That probably explains why I'm in pain right now…" he says, sighing out as he attempts to sit up. It was a bit of a struggle but he managed to press his back against the headrest. "I can sort of remember everything. I and 14 other people were being held hostage by two men… a man had been killed and a girl was being raped in the back… so that was 17 people including me…"

"Eren… I remember you saying there were only fourteen other people, and of course the deceased man and the girl who was… being raped, but when we counted the people there had only been 16" Armin says, a look of confusion on his face. "Did you maybe count wrong?" he questions and this time Eren gives him a confused look.

"No, there were 17 people… look at the camera footage…" he says. "We have looked at the footage, Eren, and it shows that there were only 16 people in total. Maybe the stress from the situation made you count wrong. There were only 16 people"

"That can't be Armin. There were 17… there had to be. I didn't count wrong. I couldn't have. Please let me see that footage" Eren requests, looking over at Armin, a desperate look in his eyes. Armin shook his head.

"I can't, Eren. That's not your case to be looking into. And Erwin said to keep you rested and _away_ from any cases until you're out of the hospital and fit to work again." Eren glared at Armin. "This is bullshit. I am still capable of working. Just show me the damn footage"

Armin looked over at Jean. The other blonde sighed out. "Eren, this is for your own good. You've been over working anyway. So take this time to relax and allow your body to recover. Please. You'll be doing yourself more harm than good by looking over footage."

Silence pursued after Jeans comment. The type of silence that would allow your ears to pick up the sound of a pin dropping.

After a short while Eren finally let out a sigh. "Fine, but as soon as I'm out of this place I want to see that case." He says, laying back down. "Now go home. I know you've probably been here the whole night waiting for me to wake up. So go home and sleep please. I'm fine. I'm alive."

Armin and Jean looked at each other then back at Eren. The smaller of the two gave the brunette a saddened look. "You had us worried, Eren. But we're glad."

Eren just looked at them. "I know. Now seriously. Go home. I also want to sleep. I'm tired"

Armin and Jean didn't say anything after that. They got up, said goodbye and left. And as their presence finally vanished from Eren, he was left all alone and covered in a blanket of silence. The only sound that filled his ears was the beeping monitor.

He sighed out.

"It's going to be a long night."

* * *

 _ **I am soo sooo soooooooooooo sorry guys. I haven't updated in so long and I'm sure you probably thought I would never update again and given up on this story. I truly am sorry.**_

 _ **I've entered my final year of school and things are pretty hectic. I must say it's a lot more work than I was hoping for. And not only have I been bombarded with school work, but I've also been struggling with writers block. Hectically.**_

 _ **So I am really sorry. Writing this chapter was actually really hard for me. And it's still a horrible one. I really am sorry. Seven months and all I can give you guys is this. But I am positive that things will be a lot better after this one. Or at least I hope so.**_

 _ **Again, I really am sorry.**_

 _ **I hope to hear back from you guys =)**_

 _ **Ciao~**_


	6. Chapter 5

**My Insanity**

 **Chapter 5**

* * *

A few days later Eren was released from the hospital. The first thing he did was go home and shave the small bush that was starting to grow on his face, along with having a decent shower and giving Kohl some much needed attention.

Afterwards he left home straight away and drove to the office. He knew that by now he'd have cases piling up on his desk. He guessed that that was what would happen when you lie in the hospital for a week. Either way he knew that there would be some type of workload waiting for him.

Or so he thought.

When he got to his office he was surprised by the lack of any form of documentation waiting for him on his desk. Instead all there was on his desk was his chewed on pencils and his computer. That was all.

There had been no new cases involving 'Ordentlich Mörder'. Absolutely none. He did however receive a message from Hanji. He would go and see her at the end of the day. First he would sit in his empty office and work. He wasn't allowed to, thanks to Armin taking away his laptop and files and locking them away from Eren until he was told he told leave the hospital by a doctor.

He put his brief case down on his desk and sat down. He was still somewhat tired, but he needed to do something. He had to research a couple of things regarding the case. He also wanted to go over the camera footage of the hostage that happened last week.

He put his computer on and went into their database and typed in the name Ferran Gottfrid. He needed to find out how he and Carlota Vilis were connected. He knew, based on every other victim, that there was a possibility that the two were not connected at all, but now that he knew that the way in which the killer killed was changing, he knew that there could now be a link between the two. At least, he hoped there would be.

He considered the fact that the two victims were having an affair. He just wasn't sure if that was the case as there was no plausible evidence that directed that way. However, it was a possibility and Eren had to consider it. So it was the first thing he was going to look into.

He had data from both victims' electronic devices. He checked their messages and call histories. He didn't find anything of value, but what he did notice was that Carlota had been getting calls from an unknown number every night for the past few weeks. He considered the fact that had the two been having an affair, then Ferran would have used a burner phone to keep his records clean. He had a wife and two kids; it was understandable if he didn't want to be caught.

Eren sighed out. _Just don't have an affair then…_

"Well, there's no way I'll be able to find the burner phone. I'll have to get a permit to search through Ferrans belongings. I'm sure that this is the link between them." He says to himself as he browses through some of the messages that Carlota received from the unknown number. He was hoping to find a name or something but the messages were very discreet. However, he had found something quite useful.

"Meet me at Café Fredella, 12 AM"

Erens brows furrowed together. "That's the coffee shop" he muttered to himself. He found it extremely strange that the coffee shop, the one he frequented often and the one that had literally just been under a hostage situation (one that Eren had been caught in), had been their planned meeting place. He bit his lip. "Is this a clue?" he questioned himself.

"No, that can't be… this is just a coincidence. There's no way that it means anything important." He chuckled to himself. "I'll get the footage from that day too, just to see who it is that she met." He picked up his phone and dialed in a few numbers. It rang for a bit before being answered by a sweet voice. "Hello, this is Cristina, how may I help you?"

Eren smiled. She was such a sweetheart to listen to. Everyone in the firm loved her. He was sure that every single male, probably a few females as well, had asked her on a daily basis to be their wife. However, they were countlessly reprimanded by her fiancé, Ymir.

"Hey Christina, it's me; Eren. I need you to get some footage for me from Café Fredella." He says, his voice calm. The person on the other end of the line made a sound. "What day? When we got the footage from the other day they gave us data from at least a month back."

"Oh, that's perfect then. Can you please send it over to me?" he questions. "Of course. I'll send Ymir over with it now. She won't allow me to do anything with me being pregnant." She chuckled out. Eren almost forgot that she was pregnant. "Thanks, Christina, take care." And with that he put the phone down.

* * *

After a while he had received the footage from Ymir. Their meeting was brief and distasteful. She was a very discreet person. She didn't really talk to anyone but Christina. Eren didn't really care either way. It wouldn't have been like him trying to involve himself in the lives of others anyway. That was quite ironic considering his line of profession.

He took out the correct footage and played it on his computer. He forwarded it right before the scheduled 12 AM meeting. He saw Carlota walk in at around 11:55 and at exactly 12 AM the person he expected to walk in did just that. Ferran walked straight over to her table. She even stood up and kissed him passionately.

"That confirms it… I'll probably have to tell his wife about this… she deserves to know." He sighed out to himself. That was going to be painfully awkward. It was never an easy thing to do. Unfortunately he had to do it.

He continued watching the footage for anything unusual. He knew thee probably wouldn't have been but he didn't want to miss anything that could be there. And as he suspected, nothing unusual occurred. They exchanged a few words and ordered a cup of coffee. Eren did notice however that as someone walked past the two explicit people the footage cut out for a split second before coming back. The same person was still walking past and everything seemed normal. He didn't know what caused the footage to cut out.

"Probably a glitch in the equipment."

He closed the footage and put in the one from the day of the robbery. He skipped forward to the part where he and Adler had shot each other. He grimaced at it. He watched Adlers body fall limp and blood pool around his head.

He didn't quite enjoy seeing himself kill another human being. He knew that it had to be done. Adler was a dangerous man. He was a threat to Eren and everyone else that was in the café. Eren kept telling himself this. He kept telling himself that it had to be done. He had to or else he would be overcome by regret and guilt.

He paused the footage. He counted the number of people. Armin was right. There were only 16 people including him, but he had sworn there were 17 people. He closed his eyes and furrowed his brows together. He needed to think but his head was all fuzzy. He couldn't understand why he felt like there was something wrong. He knew that the footage was clear and showed on 16 people, but he remember there being 17. It didn't make sense.

At that moment an image popped into his mind, one that gave him chills. It was of someone walking past him. He couldn't see their face clearly, but he could see a pleased smile on his face. "That's right… someone walked past me… they wore a black hoody and he was smiling…. I wanted to call out to him but Armin came in at that moment… I must have forgotten about it."

He played the footage again. He saw everyone walk out. And at the moment where he Armin came in, he watched himself turn to someone, but there was no one there. There wasn't anyone wearing a black hoody. No one at all.

Erens eyes widened. "This can't be.." he mutters out as he pulls his phone out of his pocket and dials Armins number. He didn't wait long for the blonde to answer.

"Hel-"

"Armin, do you remember seeing someone wearing a black hoody? When you came into the café on the day of the robbery, someone wearing a black hoody should have walked right passed you… do you remember seeing them?" Eren cut him off hurredly.

"Eren… where is this coming from…?" Armin questions confusedly. "Please, Armin, it's important. I need to know."

"I do remember someone like that walking out as I came in… why is it important? Does the person have anything to do with the case…?"

"Armin…" Erens voice was soft, and his lips trembled, "he isn't on the footage…"

"What do you mean?" Armin questions. "He isn't here. I watched the footage… and I don't see him walking out. The footage has been tampered with."

"You can't be serious… that's impossible… we got the footage the same day… that doesn't make sense." Armin says, his confusion was evident in the way that he spoke. Eren sighed out. "It's possible that the person I've been looking for has been with me the whole time…"

The thought made Erens blood run cold. It was possible that this whole time he had been facing the killer the whole time without even knowing it. Now he didn't know who to trust anymore.

Everyone was a suspect.

* * *

After his phone call with Armin, Eren packed his stuff and headed home. As usual, as he stepped outside he felt eyes on him again. He hurried over to his car and tried to get out of there as quickly as possible.

Eren was never someone that had been afraid. At least, he hadn't been that way for a long time, but for the first time in a while he was petrified. He didn't understand what was happening at all, but he knew that it was all related to the killer. The coffee shop, the robbery. It linked together and he didn't know where to even start on how or why.

He knew that the killer was playing tricks. Eren was a game to him. And he was slowly winning it. Eren trembled.

He knew it was just his imagination, but it was like he could feel someone breathing against his neck. They were holding him in place. Eren hated to admit it, but he was slowly losing his mind to this case. Or rather, he was losing his mind told the one that it centered around, the one that he knew nothing about.

He was chasing after someone that could very well not exist. He wanted to stop. He wanted to run away, but he couldn't, because as much as he feared the man who was slowly hunting him down, he was excited as well. His body was trembling, but it wasn't out of fear alone. He was trembling with excitement.

"What's happening to me?" he questioned himself as he stared at his darkened house.

He got out of his car, not even bothering to take his briefcase with him inside. He walked straight over to his front door, stopping when he saw a little note taped onto his door. The handwriting was neat and tidy, just like the one before.

"I'm closer than you think" it read. Erens eyes widened when he saw that his door was slightly ajar. He pressed his hand against it, opening it up all the way, and walked inside. He didn't hear anything, and Kohl didn't come to him either like he usually did. He felt something under his feet and when he looked down he almost vomited.

There was a trail of white rose petals going down the corridor, into his bedroom. He walked down, slowly making his way to his room. And when he entered he noticed the dull lighting. He also noticed the person sitting on his bed, their back towards Eren.

Kohl was there too. He sat next to the person, who stroked him casually.

Eren felt his blood run cold.

"Who are you?"

Silence.

"The one you've been searching for."

* * *

 _ **Hey guys, I know it's been a really long time. I'm really sorry. But after the last chapter I started my final exams. I finished high school (FINALLY). I've also been struggling with writers block. But I am trying to fix that. I can't guarantee any updates. I'm actually trying to write an original story. But I stumbled upon this one and I felt like continuing it. I might continue some of my other stories, but my main inspiration and motivation is being focused on this one for now. I'm really sorry for the long wait. And I gave such a crappy chapter as well.**_

 _ **Well, let's hope the next one is better!**_

 _ **Hope to hear from you!**_

 _ **Ciao~**_


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